Busan (VNA) – The governments of Vietnam and other ASEAN memberstates always create best conditions for businesses to boost connectivity andpromote creativeness to realise their business initiatives in the ASEAN marketwith a population of 630 million people and total GDP value of nearly 3trillion USD, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on November 25.

Addressing the ASEAN-RoK CEO Summit in Busan, PM Phuc expressed his hope thatenterprises will cooperate with governments to promote the application ofscience-technology achievements so as to create breakthroughs in development,especially in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

He believed that the “New Southern Policy” initiated by Korean President MoonJae-in would contribute to elevating the relations between ASEAN and the RoK toa new high as the RoK has pledged to stand shoulder by shoulder with ASEAN to developthe ASEAN Community 2025 towards the common goal of peace and prosperity inEast Asia.

The policy is also expected to help increase the two-way trade from 160 billionUSD in 2018 to 200 billion USD in 2020, he said, adding Vietnam and the RoK arestriving towards 100 billion USD in trade value next year.

ASEAN and the RoK need to accelerate multilateral trade through upgrading theASEAN – RoK Free Trade Agreement, contributing to boosting investors’confidence as well as encouraging them to expand production and business in thefields of sustainable infrastructure, green energy and IT, he stressed.

The Vietnamese Government leader said he is looking forwards to seeing moreinvestments from both sides in environmentally-friendly technologies, climatechange response, mitigation of natural disasters, disease prevention andcontrol, and water management, among others, to ensure that future generationswill have better lives.

As the 2020 ASEAN Chair, Vietnam, together with other ASEAN members, welcomesKorean businesses who follow the ‘New Southern Policy’, with a view to enjoyingthriving cooperation with ASEAN – a community of peace, friendliness, opennessand dynamic, he underlined.

Vietnam has moved up places in business environment improvement recognised by internationalorganisations, and the nation will continue its efforts to facilitate businessoperation of all enterprises in the country, he added.

The ASEAN – RoK CEO Summit drew the participation of more than 500 businessleaders in the RoK and ASEAN, who met to seek measures to strengthen cooperationin the time ahead, as well as discuss ASEAN’s roles in the context of changingglobal trade environment.

Earlier, PM Phuc visited a Vietnamese booth at the ASEAN – RoK Business Expothemed “Invest ASEAN 2019”./.